'Polostan Book 1' by Neal Stephenson

1 November 2026

Neal Stephenson's epic novel 'Polostan Book 1' (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by January LaVoy) is a strange but enjoyable romp through 1930s USA and USSR. At times it felt like a melding of Amor Towles' brilliant novels 'A Gentleman in Moscow' (reviewed here in September 2021) and 'The Lincoln Highway' (reviewed here in February 2022) - showing us the reality of life inside communist Russia and life on the run in gangster-era America, resembling and paying tribute to the exploits of Bonnie and Clyde. Dawn (also known by her Russian name Aurora) is a young woman who has grown up in St Petersburg (where her father was a communist revolutionary) and Montana (where her mother's family come from). By 1933 she has been eye-witness to a series of important events in both countries (some featuring real historical characters) and is wanted by the FBI and the Russian OGPU. We learn her story gradually, through an innovative narrative structure - much of which involves scenes of her being interrogated or tortured by the Soviet authorities, interspersed with the stories she tells them about her earlier life. At times in the book we are simultaneously following Dawn in three separate timelines. 'Polostan' is initially a bit confusing but develops into a series of wonderful set-piece scenes and manages to incorporate politics, engineering, nuclear physics and polo. As the title suggests, Dawn's story may have only just begun and I would be happy to read more.

'Caller Unknown' by Gillian McAllister

28 October 2026

A new thriller by Gillian McAllister is always a treat. Having enjoyed 'Famous Last Words (reviewed here in January 2026), I was eager to get hold of her new novel 'Caller Unknown', and it didn't disappoint. She describes 'Caller Unknown' as her first 'suspense novel': I have found all of her books incredibly scary and suspenseful, but whereas the setup in her previous stories has always been a slow burn, this one launches you straight into the trauma from page 1. Gillian McAllister is at her best when contrasting everyday relatable family dynamics with a world of crime and violence. 'Caller Unknown' is perhaps the ultimate example of the battle between trying to do the right thing and protecting your loved-ones. It's a story that feels like you need to read it from behind the sofa, or peeking between your fingers, but simultaneously one that you cannot stop reading to find out what happens. It's also a good example of a thriller that only works as a book: without giving too much away, one vital twist depends on the assumptions you make about what you are reading and wouldn't work in the same way in a film or TV version.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

27 October 2026

As I've mentioned here many times before, the composer Malcolm Arnold played trumpet in the Northampton Symphony Orchestra as a schoolboy in Northampton. So the orchestra has always had a close connection with Arnold. Over the last 21 years, since the founding of the annual Malcolm Arnold Festival, we have often performed as part of the festival. But it's been three years between our last NSO contribution to the Malcolm Arnold Festival (reviewed here in October 2023) and our concert last Saturday at St Matthew's Church in Northampton as part of the 2026 Festival. 

Our concert on Saturday featured a mix of pieces by Malcolm Arnold and Dmitri Shostakovich. The two composers first met in May 1957 during the Prague Spring Festival, where Arnold was attending as a guest of the Union of Czechoslovak Composers and representing the British Musicians' Union. They met a number of times over the years in their roles representing their respective national composer organisations, with their final meeting taking place in Prague in 1966. The Russian composer left a lasting impression on Malcolm Arnold, heavily influencing his later work. 

We opened the concert with the 'Philharmonic Concerto' by Malcolm Arnold - a powerful work from 1976 with aggressive outer movements sandwiching a delicate slow movement that featured impressive solos by Hilary Glanville (viola), Richard Smith (violin) and John Whittall (trombone). I also loved the thunderous end to the piece by Keith Crompton on timpani.

We then played the 'Symphony No 9' by Shostakovitch - a shorter, lighter piece than his other symphonies, reminiscent of the 'Classical Symphony' by Prokofiev. It requires less sheer power and volume from the orchestra than most Shostakovich symphonies but features fiendishly difficult rhythms, needing a lightness of touch and much concentration. Our performance went really well, with wonderful solos throughout the orchestra, including Graham Tear (flute), Sarah Mourant (oboe), Naomi Muller (clarinet: an amazing solo at the start of the second movement, becoming a lovely clarinet duet with Rob Reid), Georgina Neil (piccolo: including an impossibly long held note to finish the second movement) and Terry Mayo (trumpet). But the most incredible moment in the concert was the long unaccompanied bassoon solo spanning the end of the fourth and the start of the fifth movements, perfectly played by Sian Bunker. I was sitting directly behind Sian and realised halfway through her solo that I was actually holding my breath. I think all of us around her were frozen while we willed her on - nervous on Sian's behalf while she exuded a calm confidence and played beautifully.

The second half of the concert opened with the 'Rhapsody: The Sound Barrier' by Arnold, featuring his music from the 1952 David Lean film. We followed this with the 'Oboe Concerto' by Ruth Gipps - who was a contemporary of Malcolm Arnold at the Royal College of Music: a beautiful performance by Emmett Byrne. I enjoyed accompanying the concerto: it's a really nice piece that deserves to be better known. The final Malcolm Arnold piece in the programme was the rarely heard 'Little Suite No 3 (The Manx Suite)', written in 1990.

We finished the concert with Shostakovich's glorious 'Festive Overture' - a stunning end to a great concert, carefully directed by our excellent conductor John Gibbons. There was lovely playing throughout the orchestra but this concert really belonged to our brilliant woodwind section.

Rachel Broadbent

23 October 2026

On Friday afternoon we were at Ampthill Methodist Church to see the oboist Rachel Broadbent, accompanied by Krystal Tunnicliffe, as part of the Ampthill Recitals series. Rachel, who lives locally, is a busy freelance orchestral player, soloist, chamber musician, oboe teacher and chamber music coach who also composes music for the oboe. She gave a brilliant performance (to an audience including some of her pupils), despite struggling with a bad cold and the storm approaching outside. She played oboe sonatas by Loeillet and Saint-Seans, a Brahms song, 'To the Nightingale', arranged for Cor Anglais and piano, one of her own compositions for solo oboe, 'Maid of Mud', and an arrangement of Elgar's 'Salut d'amore' for oboe d'amore and piano. Rachel finished with the 'Cavatine' for oboe and piano by Coste and 'Danza Gaya' by Madeleine Dring. It was a lovely recital, showing off Rachel's beautiful tone.

'An Old Woman's Reflections' by Peig Sayers

22 October 2026

The Blasket Islands are three miles off Ireland's Dingle Peninsula. Until their evacuation just after the Second World War, the lives of the 150 or so Blasket Islanders had remained unchanged for centuries. A rich oral tradition of storytelling, poetry and folktales kept alive the legends and history of the islands. In the 1960s Oxford University Press published seven Blasket Island books, containing memoirs and reminiscences, evoking a way of life which has now vanished. I am grateful to Tom Doyle for giving me a copy of one of those seven books: 'An Old Woman's Reflections: The Life of a Blasket Island Storyteller' by Peig Sayers (first published in 1962). Peig Sayers (1873 - 1958), known as 'the Queen of Gaelic storytellers', was born on the mainland but made her home on the Great Blasket when she married an islandman. The book contains a series of her reminiscences, written down by her son (and translated and edited in 1939). It's a fascinating insight into the Gaelic oral tradition and a revealing historical snapshot of rural island life in this particular remote corner of Ireland during the first three decades of the 20th century. It is clear from Peig's stories that the day-to-day life of the islanders probably hadn't changed much for centuries, but occasionally you can see glimpses of the modern world intruding. A man comes to the village from Mexico and, remarkably, turns out to be a Gaelic speaker. Peig is given a ride in a motor car. News reaches Great Blasket of the 1916 revolution in Dublin. But most of Peig's stories are of disputes, love triangles, fights and boats lost at sea. 'An Old Woman's Reflections' is authentic primary source history, told in the words of someone who was there. These tales don't always have a conventional narrative arc but they tell you so much more about the everyday lives of the people in that place at that time.

'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare

21 October 2026

Over the past few years we've seen four productions by the excellent OVO Theatre Company in Saint Albans, all performed in the open-air Roman theatre of Verulamium. ('The Merry Wives of Windsor', reviewed here in September 2020; 'The Importance of Being Earnest', reviewed here in July 2022; 'Much Ado About Nothing', reviewed here in July 2023; and 'Sense and Sensibility', reviewed here in 2024.) On Tuesday we saw an indoor OVO production for the first time. The Barn is a beautiful 17th-century Grade II listed threshing barn in Verulamium Park in Saint Albans, which has been temporarily converted into an atmospheric 120-seat live performance space by OVO. The doors opened for the first time last week, launching an autumn season of site-specific productions during the 'work-in-progress phase', ahead of the full permanent conversion of The Barn in 2027. We were one of the first audiences to see the inside of this magnificent building. We were there to see a production of 'Macbeth' directed by OVO Theatre founder and artistic director Adam Nichols. This was a powerful, muscular performance, made more impactful by the audience, on three sides of the circular wooden stage, being so close to the action. The actors felt exaggeratedly large in this intimate space, and the violence, guilt, and grief of the play felt more visceral. Ludovig Hughes was great as Macbeth, embodying his physical and mental transformation through the play - but all of the large cast were impressive. The audience seating in the temporary auditorium didn't provide great sightlines and we were unable to see much of the action when characters were sitting or lying on the stage. But it was great to be present at the inauguration of this new theatrical space in St Albans and I'll looking forward to seeing what the full transformation of the building will bring next year.

'Table 17' by Douglas Lyons

18 October 2026

On Saturday we were back at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn to see 'Table 17' - a play by Douglas Lyons that has been a big hit in New York and Los Angeles. It's a great piece of fringe theatre for three actors that requires no set other than a dining table and chairs. Former fiancees Jada and Dallas are meeting for dinner at their favourite restaurant, two years after splitting up. We see them each preparing for their reunion and then, through flashbacks, learn how they originally met, fell in love and the reasons for their split. An announcement at the beginning of Zhailon Levingston's excellent production for Kiln Theatre encourages the audience to engage with the play "like a panto". Despite my reservations, this worked really well, with members of the audience expressing out loud their surprise, shock and anger at each plot revelation, the actors very effectively improvising in response to comments from the audience (always scrupulously in character) and the audience almost becoming another character in the drama. Amy Jane Cook's set makes great use of a revolving horseshoe-shaped banquette to evoke the restaurant and a host of other settings. And the acting is superb: Marisha Wallace as Jada, Jamael Westman as Dallas and Michael Rishawn as everyone else show us characters who are flawed but sympathetic and charming. 'Table 17' is a very clever, hip, smart play which went down a storm in the sold-out theatre.

'Not the End of the World' by Hannah Ritchie

18 October 2026

Most people are now aware of the global climate emergency and the multiple challenges facing our planet, but news headlines repeatedly seem to suggest it is too late, too difficult or too costly to do anything to avoid impending catastrophe. Too much of the goodwill and willingness of the public to help is not converted into action because people feel the situation is hopeless. If that sounds familiar I would encourage you to read Hannah Ritchie's 2024 book 'Not the End of the World'. Subtitled 'How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet', Ritchie's book examines seven major environmental problems facing us and, through careful statistical analysis, demonstrates that for every one of them we're now either at the turning point to a lower impact, or have already passed it. While she is clear that we still face significant challenges - and the planet and its inhabitants are still suffering in many ways as a result of environmental changes - the message of the book is that the solutions are known and we need to focus on those positive actions that will have greatest consequences. Hannah Ritchie is senior researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford and deputy editor of the 'Our World in Data' website. She is charmingly frank about the challenges we face as individuals to do "the right thing" environmentally and provides a no-nonsense approach to which personal actions could actually help to make a significant difference (eg stop eating beef but don't worry about using the occasional plastic straw) - backing this up with the relevant data in each case. She is also good at demolishing the many myths based on misleading news headlines, while admitting to her own occasional mistakes in broadcast interviews. The best way to be really clear about how we can improve the environment is to focus on thorough examination of the data (in books like this) rather than attention-grabbing headlines. 'Not the End of the World' is a fascinating, uplifting read that makes you want to do more to help, and convinces you we can actually make a difference. 

'The Rainbow' by Yasunari Kawabata

13 October 2026

I am very grateful to Geoff Crossick for giving me a copy of another classic Japanese novel, 'The Rainbow' by Yasunari Kawabata, originally published in 1951 and translated into English by Haydn Trowell in 2023. This is a very different book to 'The Woman in the Dunes' by Kōbō Abe (also reviewed here in October 2026). Compared to that 1960s surreal existential novel 'The Rainbow', written a decade earlier, feels like a more conventional narrative. But it's an equally fascinating insight into Japanese history and culture. 'The Rainbow' was written and set in a Japan coming to terms with the aftermath of World War II and has the eerie feeling of a country that is on the cusp between two very different worlds. This is the story of a middle-aged professional man - an architect - who is the father of three daughters by three different mothers. In some ways this is a gentle, ambling tale of the two oldest daughters wanting and not wanting to meet their younger stepsister for the first time. While the novel is straightforwardly realistic, without any elements of magic realism or dreamlike narrative, there is still a strange ennui to the plot. The characters spend a lot of the book visiting villas and palaces built for members of the Japanese nobility who had been stripped of their wealth and privileges after the war. With the public now able to see inside these grand houses for the first time it feels like the Japanese people are tourists walking through their country's history. The novel's plot manages to be both a slow, gentle examination of family relationships in which nothing much seems to be happening, and simultaneously a bizarre series of melodramatic events including infidelity, unplanned pregnancy and suicide. When I first started listening to 'world music' and attending the annual WOMAD Festival, in the early 2000s, I was driven by a frustration with what felt like the increasing banality and predictability of mainstream pop music. I loved discovering music, from around the world, that didn't follow the familiar patterns I was used to and still had the potential to surprise me. I've enjoyed reading Japanese novels for similar reasons, precisely because I find it hard to see where the plot is going. It's also fascinating to learn more about Japanese culture and traditions through fiction. 'The Rainbow' is full of traditional tea ceremonies and the size of rooms in houses is routinely measured by the number of tatami mats that would fit on the floor. ("In the six-mat pavilion, there was a four-and-a-half-mat room used for the tea ceremony ...") 'The Rainbow' is quite a melancholic, reflective story showing a country coming to terms with itself through the microcosm of a single family.

Claire Marsden

13 October 2026

Claire Marsden is a French horn player, currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music. She was Joint Principal Horn of the National Youth Orchestra from 2023 to 2025 and she reached the final 5 brass players in BBC Young Musician 2024. Claire also happens to be a resident of Ampthill in Bedfordshire and last Friday I was at Ampthill Methodist Church to see her perform with the pianist Sam O'Neal as part of the Ampthill Recitals series. It was great to have the chance to see this brilliant young horn player so close to home, and to see her playing a new Woodhead horn, made for her in Ampthill by Luke Woodhead. She played the whole of the 'Horn Concerto No 1' by Richard Strauss and the first movement of Beethoven's 'Horn Sonata' - both of which I have played myself (though not in public!). She also introduced me to pieces for the horn by Eugene Bozza, Paul Dukas and Sigurd Verge - all of which were very enjoyable and technically impressive. Claire spoke well to the audience (and seemed to relax more into her playing after speaking). It was wonderful to see her in concert at this early stage in her career.

'Once Upon a Time in Sokoto' by Inua Ellams

8 October 2026

On Tuesday we were at the Royal Theatre in Northampton to see 'Once Upon A Time In Sokoto' - a new play by Inua Ellams. Directed by Roy Alexander Weise for Fuel in association with Touring Together (a collective that includes Royal & Derngate Northampton), 'Once Upon A Time In Sokoto' explores the pre-colonial history of Nigeria, through 24 scenes set from 1865 to 1903 in the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa. It's a fascinating, entertaining and moving production using a mixture of storytelling and drama with four actors playing multiple parts - and breaking the fourth wall to involve the audience in their story. This is a family saga spanning three generations as well as a political, economic and military history lesson - very effectively knitting personal stories with macro historical events. Amelia Jane Hankin's set provides an impressive backdrop but this is an intimate narrative that would also work well in an empty classroom. The audience is drawn into the storytelling and the four actors (Adeola Yemitan, Antonia Layiwola, Bayo Gbadamosi and Will Atiomo) are excellent. It's a fast-paced, thoughtful, eye-opening history.

'As You Like It' by William Shakespeare

7 October 2026

The first time I saw 'As You Like It' was on our very first visit to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1992 - a production directed by David Thacker, with Samantha Bond as Rosalind. I can still the remember the moment at the end when she stepped to the front of the stage to say "It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue ...". On Saturday we were back at the (new) RST to see Daniel Evans' brilliant new production of 'As You Like It'. Using an all male cast (which Shakespeare wrote for) strangely makes more sense of the gender-swapping plot (as it did in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men production of 'As You Like It', reviewed here in August 2022). Tony award-winner Jonathan Groff, is very impressive as Rosalind/Gannymede and Fisayo Akinade as Celia gives a wonderful comic performance. Tim Preston's Phoebe almost steals the show (blurting out "Gannymede, do you like my wedding dress - I made it myself!"). And it was lovely to see Gary Wilmot (who we saw in 'Anything Goes' at the Barbican, reviewed here in September 2021) making his RSC debut (playing both the Dukes), and RSC veteran Richard McCabe as a surprisingly playful melancholic Jaques. When the action shifts from the court to the countryside it becomes clear that the Forest of Arden has been relocated to Wales (and why not?) - with Anisha Fields' magnificent set bringing an enormous, and amazingly realistic, Welsh grassy hillside into the centre of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre: the reveal is a stunning moment. And the composer Theo Jamieson introduces a capella male voice choir harmony to Arden with a series of beautiful musical interludes (mostly sung in Welsh by the 'Arden 7'). It's a very enjoyable production - the best RSC show we have seen since Rupert Goold's amazing shipboard production of Hamlet (reviewed here in February 2025).

'The Woman in the Dunes' by Kobo Abe

7 October 2026

My introduction to Japanese literature was via David Mitchell's 2001 novel 'Number9Dream' - his homage to Haruki Murakami. This led me to the novels of Murakami, four of which I have written about here (starting with my favourite 'Kafka on the Shore', reviewed here in October 2006). Murakami's books usually start in a contemporary real-world Japan into which magical realism starts to intrude, leading us into a parallel fantasy world. I'm also a fan of the Japanese-British novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro - who I was lucky to see in conversation with David Mitchell at the Royal Festival Hall in 2016 (reviewed here in February 2016). Several of Ishiguro's novels have a surreal. dreamlike quality that reminds me of Murakami, particularly 'When We Were Orphans' and 'The Unconsoled'. More recently I enjoyed ‘Tokyo Express’ - a Japanese detective novel by Seichō Matsumoto, first published in 1958, and translated by Jesse Kirkwood in 2022 (reviewed here in June 2024) - a gripping tale, beautifully told, with a gentle Japanese politeness. I am very grateful to Geoff Crossick for extending my knowledge of Japanese literature by giving me a copy of the classic Japanese novel 'The Woman in the Dunes' by Kōbō Abe, originally published in 1962, translated into English by E. Dale Saunders in 1964 and adapted into a Cannes Festival Award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara. 'The Woman in the Dunes' is a deeply strange, existential novel. "The man" is a school teacher from Tokyo who visits a coastal fishing village to collect insects. The villagers, whose homes are constantly on the verge of being destroyed by the advancing sand dunes, trap him and force him to help them in the Sisyphean task of shovelling endless amounts of sand. The grim reality of his sandy prison, the physical demands of the labour, his increasingly desperate attempts to escape and the horrible effects of the constantly flowing sand on the human body are told in painstaking detail. The contrast between the bizarre surrealism of the situation and the practical, precise description of it reminded me of Yann Martel's 2001 novel 'Life of Pi'. In its surreal examination of human existence 'The Woman in the Dunes' also made me think of 'Waiting for Godot' by Samuel Beckett (published in 1952), though the occasional bantering dialogue here is all in the man's head: he has very little conversation with "the woman" with whom he is incarcerated. 'The Woman in the Dunes' is fascinating, peculiar and enthralling but it's also quite an uncomfortable read, particularly in the way the man treats the woman and the introduction of sex into their relationship. The sand-strewn, surreal nightmare is a lens through which to examine questions of human existence and particular issues to do with class. But I think I probably missed other references and analogies and I was grateful for the introduction written by David Mitchell for the 2006 Penguin Classics edition (which you can read at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/07/featuresreviews.guardianreview26). 

'Death is No Sportsman', 'With a Bare Bodkin' and 'Death Walks the Woods' by Cyril Hare

27 September 2026

I'm continuing to work my way through the detective novels of Cyril Hare (previously reviewed here in July and August 2026). I've now read: 'Death is No Sportsman' (published 1938) - an Inspector Mallet novel centred on a fishing syndicate on the River Didder; 'With a Bare Bodkin' (published 1946) - a wartime, office-based mystery, featuring the lawyer Francis Pettigrew, which has an amusing meta-textual element as one of the characters is himself an author of murder mysteries; and 'Death Walks the Woods' (published 1954) - another Francis Pettigrew novel which nicely links together some of the characters and geography of the other books, including 'When the Wind Blows'. All Cyril Hare's novels give a fascinating glimpse into the social history of the period and have a genteel, polite, English approach to brutal crime, but always with an unexpected, clever, plausible denouement.

'The Time of Our Singing' by Richard Powers

25 September 2026

I am grateful to Gareth Coles for giving me a copy of Richard Powers' 2002 novel, 'The Time of Our Singing'. I had previously enjoyed reading 'Playground' by Richard Powers (reviewed here in January 2026) - a novel that relied on a single brilliant twist. 'The Time of Our Singing' is a much more complete work - an epic family saga of more than 600 pages, covering more than half a century. The story follows the three children of mixed-race parents who aspire to raise them beyond the constraints of time and identity, immersing them in a world of classical music. But the realities of the outside world make it increasingly difficult to live without picking sides, particularly as the civil rights movement begins to respond the a rising epidemic of racial violence across the USA in the decades following World War II. At times it reminded me of Peter Flannery's 'Our Friend in the North' with the main characters (here three siblings rather than four friends) moving apart and then reuniting over several decades, to a background of real world news events. It is incredibly densely written: I often had to read a sentence several times to fully understand its various allusions. Powers treats the reader as an equal (and equally up to speed with classical music, physics, the civil rights movement etc), never patronisingly explaining. I realised I was probably missing much of the rich detail but I don't think that mattered too much. Powers' writing about classical music is incredibly detailed, precise and accurate (as far as I could tell: I definitely didn't get all the references). The book also deals with physics, time and relativity - both practically and metaphorically. It's a huge undertaking but the family saga at its heart is a powerful emotional hook and I was desperate to learn the fates of the various family members. Although the main narrative of the siblings' lives is told linearly (by the younger brother, Joseph), the other chapters jump backwards and forwards in time, filling in the story of their parents, grandparents and more. And, in common with the theme of time as non-linear, this pleasingly gives the sense that all these lives are going on simultaneously. Long lost, much missed characters live on in their own time strands right through the novel. Like any family saga there are, necessarily, many passings and the tale is often sad (and at times quite harrowing). But the complex mix of ideas, emotions, characters and history is brilliantly constructed and a compelling read.

Cruise to Spain, France and Italy

25 September 2026

For a third year running we enjoyed a wonderful Mediterranean cruise on the Queen Victoria. This time we joined the ship in Barcelona and visited the largest number of ports we have done on a two-week cruise, stopping at Ibiza, Ajaccio in Corsica, Messina in Sicily, Salerno, Civitavecchia, Marseille, Villefranche, Genoa and La Spezia, before spending a day in Rome. We were thrilled to discover the amazing archaeological site at Paestum near Salerno. Here you can walk around the ruins of the Greek city of Poseidona from 600 BCE (and the Roman town that succeeded it) - a site that feels as big and extensive as Pompeii, with three surviving Greek temples that rival the Parthenon in Athens. We also loved the beautiful Cinque Terre coastal hillside villages near La Spezia. We enjoyed returning to Nice (from Villefranche) and discovering Marseille and Genoa for the first time. And we finished by visiting the incredible Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome - a stunningly opulent Palazzo in the heart of the city, housing an extensive art collection. 

'How the Other Half Loves' by Alan Ayckbourn

3 September 2026

On Wednesday we were at the Old Vic in London to see Phillip Breen's new production of 'How the Other Half Loves' by Alan Ayckbourn. It was fascinating to see the Old Vic auditorium reconfigured for this 'in the round' production - which is how the play was originally staged 57 years ago. And it was a wonderful show with an excellent cast (led by Roger Allam) and brilliant comic timing, which was truly hilarious. 'How the Other Half Loves' now feels like typical Ayckbourn, with its single domestic setting, a seemingly simple comedy of manners that builds into a cleverly constructed farce of words (rather than of slapstick), playing with theatrical conventions in complex ways while still being perfectly clear and easy to follow. But this was an early Ayckbourn play that helped to establish that model, and it was notable that it lacked the darker turns of many of his later works. Alan Ayckbourn has now written more than 90 plays  and this is the 10th I have reviewed here. (We previously saw ‘Constant Companions’ his 89th play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 2023 - reviewed here in September 2023). 'How the Other Half Loves' famously shows two households simultaneously existing in the same hybrid living room, leading to the tour-de-force 'dinner party from hell' scene which is perfectly executed in the Old Vic production. Despite dealing with the pain and sadness of infidelity, this is an incredibly funny feelgood show. 

Edinburgh Festivals 2026

2 September 2026

We had a wonderful visit to Edinburgh last week, seeing 20 shows in four and a half days. On the Edinburgh International Festival we loved 'The Golden Age of Hollywood' - John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London at the Usher Hall playing music from classic MGM musicals of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Most of the original sheet music from this period was lost but Wilson has meticulously recreated the arrangements and it was fantastic to hear them live. We were also lucky to see the brilliant Pavel Haas Quartet playing string quartets by Martinů, Korngold and Dvořák at the Queen's Hall. On the Edinburgh Fringe we saw lots of amazing fringe theatre. Our favourites included 'Helen Bradley: Painter and Storyteller' - a one-woman show with Kara Wilson playing the Edwardian painter from Oldham telling us the story of her life while we watched her painting a picture in the style of Helen Bradley. 'Sublimation' was another great solo performance - written and acted by Frank Murdocco - about a one-man business struggling to survive in contemporary New York when offered a Faustian bargain that would solve his financial crisis while compromising his political and moral principles. We enjoyed EXIT - a strange but compelling piece of physical theatre by the Belgian company Circumstances, which is essentially four men walking through doors for an hour. This wordless show is funny, inventive and incredibly impressive, blending circus skills, dance and gymnastics. 'Supposing' - a new play by Zinnie Harris at the Traverse Theatre starring Nicole Cooper and Richard Conlon - was a stunning piece of small-scale theatre. After falling into a hole in the street outside the local theatre, Sally becomes convinced she has been cursed and begins to hear a Greek chorus in her head. She appears to be living a series of Greek tragedies - to the bemusement and increasing concern of her husband. It's a funny, intriguing and disturbing play, brilliantly acted. But I think my favourite fringe show this year was 'The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much' by the physical theatre company Voloz Collective - a Hitchcockian noir spoof set in 1960s New York involving spies, terrorists, assassinations and political plots. Four actors conjure up a comic book world with the minimum of props and the maximum use of their bodies. It's clever, fast-moving and hilarious.

'Actually, I'm a Murderer' by Terry Deary

23 August 2026

Terry Deary is best known for the Horrible Histories series. His first novel for adults, 'Actually, I'm a Murderer' (which I've just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Adam Stevens, Anna Gilthorpe and Sam Stafford) has a similarly irreverent tone, but a little more sex and violence. It is set in Sunderland in 1973 and is a murder mystery thriller narrated in rotation by three of the people involved. There are some nice twists, surprises and coincidences, with revelations appearing when the same scene is described from the point of view of a different protagonist. The plot becomes a cleverly constructed farce and never takes itself too seriously. It's a light but very enjoyable tale and looks set to be the first in a series of linked novels.

'The Oresteia' by Simon Stone, after Aeschylus & Others

21 August 2026

On Thursday we were at the Bridge Theatre in London to see a new production of 'The Oresteia', written and directed by Simon Stone "After Aeschylus & Others". 'The Oresteia' by Aeschylus is the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy of three connected plays. Recounting the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra in revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia - followed, in turn, by their son Orestes avenging the death of his father by executing Clytemnestra and her lover. (According to Professor Edith Hall, writing in the Theatre Programme, the Oresteia was in fact a tetralogy. The fourth play, now lost to us, was a rumbustious satyr drama, with the chorus changing into hairy body suits with animal hooves.) The Australian writer and director Simon Stone comes to 'The Oresteia' having developed a reputation for re-workings of classics, from 'Medea' and 'Phaedra' to Ibsen's 'Wild Duck' and 'The Lady from the Sea'. We saw his version of Lorca's 'Yerma', starring Billy Piper, in 2017 (reviewed here in September 2017), in a modern setting in which the characters were encased in an enormous glass box that filled the stage. Stone's technique involves building the script through rehearsals, drawing inspiration from his cast's work. The first thing that strikes you about the Oresteia is the incredible set by Lizzie Clachan - an almost life-size two-storey house on a massive revolving stage, allowing the audience to peer through floor-to-ceiling windows into a giant doll's house, revealing the trauma going on in Agamemnon's family. As with the glass box from 'Yerma' (also designed by Lizzie Clachan), the glass windows of the house mean we can only hear the actors through their microphones: there is one scene with a character throwing boxes around a bedroom where we can hear what he is saying but the colliding props are eerily silent to us. Unfortunately some of the witty crosstalk in the early scenes is hard to follow because the detail of the characters speaking over each other is not distinct enough through the microphones. Stone uses the modern day setting to skip backwards and forwards through the tragic events spanning 2016 to 2026, gradually piecing together the story of murder and revenge. This creates a gripping narrative structure for the drama and makes much better use of the principal actors than having them play no further part after their murders. David Morrissey plays Christopher ('Agamemnon') and Mary Louise-Parker his wife Montie ('Clytemnestra') with Tom Glyn-Carney as their son Augie ('Orestes') and Rosie Sheehy as their daughter Alice ('Electra'). We last saw Sheehy stealing the show in 'The Brightening Air' by Conor McPherson at the Old Vic (reviewed here in May 2025). It's a spectacular and intriguing production that teeters between angst-ridden tragedy, black comedy and grand guignol, but I'm not sure it entirely works. The test of any modern reworking of Greek tragedy should be whether, by the end, we believe that these events would have driven these modern characters to commit the heinous acts they do. When we saw Mike Bartlett's new version of 'Medea' at Watford Palace Theatre in 2012 (reviewed here in November 2012), he did succeed in making us believe that Rachael Sterling's Medea would have murdered her children. But while Simon Stone's 'Oresteia' definitely showed the extreme emotional strain of each of the protagonists, I wasn't totally convinced that in its modern setting this would have led to the slaughter we witnessed. And by abandoning the chronological sequence of events of the three original plays, there's really no reason to present it in three acts with two intervals: it felt a little indulgent at three and a half hours long. Nevertheless, it's a very well-acted, inventive and visually stunning production. 

'He Should Have Died Hereafter' and 'An English Murder' by Cyril Hare

17 August 2026

Having enjoyed my first Cyril Hare detective novel, 'When the Wind Blows' (reviewed here in July 2026), I have now devoured two more of his books. 'He Should Have Died Hereafter', published in 1958, again features the retired lawyer Francis Pettigrew (whose wife played in the amateur orchestra in 'When the Wind Blows' and who is the protagonist of a series of five murder mysteries by Cyril Hare). In 'He Should Have Died Hereafter' Pettigrew joins forces with the retired Inspector Mallet (who himself appears in seven Hare novels) to solve a mysterious death on Exmoor. 'An English Murder' published in 1951 (based on a 1948 radio play by Cyril Hare, 'Murder at Warbeck Hall') is a quintessential country house murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie, with guests gathered for a family Christmas and the house cut off from the rest of the world by snow. It feels like it comes from a previous era with its cast of aristocrats and a very polite butler, but is actually set during the early years of the post-war Labour government. I don't know whether the three books I've read are a representative sample of the works of Cyril Hare but they certainly have some common recurring themes to their plots. Nevertheless, all three have been very readable, funny and clever, while revealing some interesting social history details.

'Absolutely on Music' by Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa

13 August 2026

I first discovered the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami through David Mitchell, whose novel 'number9dream' (a favourite of mine) was heavily influenced by Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle'. Murakami novels are usually set in contemporary real-world Japan, into which magical realism starts to intrude. In my reviews here I have often noted Murakami's references to Western classical music (for example in my favourite Murakami novel 'Kafka on the Shore', reviewed here in October 2006). In ‘Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’ (reviewed here in September 2017) the characters discuss the merits of various different recordings of the ‘Brandenburg Concertos’. In ‘1Q84’ (reviewed here in April 2012) Murakami provides expert analysis of the music of Janáček. And in 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' (reviewed here in September 2014) a discussion of a recording of Franz Liszt’s 'Le Mal du Pays' by the Russian pianist Lazar Berman led to copies of Berman's CD becoming sold out almost immediately after the publication of Murakami’s novel. I am very grateful to Adriana Marques for giving me a copy of 'Absolutely on Music' - a book of conversations that took place in 2010 and 2011 between Haruki Murakami and the eminent Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa. The book is mostly an edited transcript of the conversations, with a few added notes by Murakami, and I loved it. While clearly knowledgeable about classical music, Murakami does not play an instrument. So my experience of playing in orchestras gave me a level of understanding somewhere between Murakami and Ozawa, making this book perfect for me. Their conversations start with Ozawa recollecting a 1962 performance of the Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1 by Glenn Gould with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic. Before the performance Bernstein turned to the audience and briefly announced that they were about to play the concerto according to Mr Gould's interpretation, with which he did not agree. This anecdote had me hooked from the start. And when Murakami and Ozawa started to listen to and compare six different recordings of Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto, and I realised that all six versions were available on Spotify so I could listen along (with Murakami helpfully providing timestamps for the particular passages they referred to) I knew I was really going to enjoy sitting in on their discussions. As well as concertos they talk about symphonies, operas, string quartets and more. Ozawa is particularly interesting on the job of a conductor and the enjoyment of score-reading. It was also a fascinating coincidence that the book refers to Ozawa conducting the premiere in 1983 of Messiaen's opera 'Saint Francois d'Assise', which was formed one section of the book 'Four Last Songs' by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon that I read in July (reviewed here in July 2026). I might have been fortunate to be the perfect audience for 'Absolutely on Music' but I really enjoyed it and it has led me on to listening to and playing many of the pieces they discussed.

'George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones: The Mad King' adapted by Duncan Macmillan

11 August 2026

Arriving at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Monday to see the first stage show based on George R. R. Martin's 'Game of Thrones' novels felt like proper event theatre. Firstly, we all had to have 'Game of Thrones' branded stickers placed over the cameras of our smartphones to emphasise the strict no filming or photography rule. Secondly, the audience weren't allowed into the auditorium until a few minutes before the start of the play. And thirdly, the inside of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre has been completely transformed for this production, with much of the seating moved from its normal position, to allow the usual thrust stage to be narrowed and extended into a cruciform platform stretching the full length and width of the auditorium. With additional seating placed on three levels on what is usually one end of the stage, the theatre has become a spectacular immersive space for a performance in the round. Unfortunately, this meant that the seats we had chosen, which were marked as having a restricted view, were not the RST's usual 'restricted view', requiring you to peer slightly around a pillar, but were completely restricted by a newly inserted wall that prevented us seeing anything happening at one end of the stage. There were three moments during the play where it was hard to follow important plot developments because we genuinely had no idea who was speaking. Duncan Macmillan's play, 'Game of Thrones: The Mad King', is a prequel to 'A Game of Thrones' - the book that formed the start of the HBO TV series. The play concerns the final days of the reign of Aerys II Targaryen - the Mad King of the title. The plot draws on references in several George R. R. Martin books to events in this period and features the younger versions of several characters familiar to audiences of the TV series. The play works as a standalone story but I think it would be incredibly hard to follow if you weren't familiar with the books or the TV series. I'm glad we had re-familiarised ourselves with the world of Westeros by reading a brief synopsis before seeing the play. Dominic Cook's Royal Shakespeare Company production is spectacular, boasting a cast of 36 and lasting nearly four hours. it's interesting that it uses very little modern technology. Like 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' (reviewed here in August 2025), it relies more on old-fashioned stagecraft. In particular the puppetry, by Nick Barnes, creates amazing life-size metallic horses, similar to those pioneered by 'War Horse' (reviewed here in October 2015). Chloe Lamford's set features two 'wow' moments - a brilliant realisation of a sacred heart tree in the godswood, with the trunk rising from beneath the stage to mesh with the branches being lowered from above: and the thrilling emergence from under the stage of the infamous Iron Throne. George R. R. Martin's stories have always had quite a Shakespearean feel to them and it's interesting to see the Royal Shakespeare Company taking on this modern giant of fantasy fiction. So it was funny that like some of the Shakespeare history plays, an already complicated plot became additionally confusing with the introduction, late in the play, of characters who hadn't appeared until that point but seemed necessary to link this prequel to the familiar stories that follow. The whole initial run of the play is completely sold out and there was a packed, enthusiastic audience on Monday evening. It's an entertaining and satisfying experience -not quite Shakespeare, but very enjoyable.

'Arcadia' by Tom Stoppard

10 August 2026

I've always enjoyed the plays of Tom Stoppard - from 'The Real Inspector Hound', 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead', 'The Real Thing', 'Travesties' and 'Jumpers' to 'The Hard Problem' (reviewed here in April 2015) and ‘Leopoldstadt’ (reviewed here in February 2022). I was even lucky enough to see Stoppard giving a pre-show talk before a performance of ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Favour’ at the National Theatre in 2009 (reviewed here in February 2009). When Tom Stoppard died in November 2025, reading the obituaries and tributes I was reminded that I had never seen the play that has often been described as his best work. I remember reading the reviews of the original production of 'Arcadia' at the National Theatre in 1993 but I didn't manage to get to see it. I did, though, really enjoy the audio recording of the play by that original cast (including Rufus Sewell, Felicity Kendal, Bill Nighy and Emma Fielding) which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 1993. On Saturday I finally got to see 'Arcadia' on stage, at the Duke of York's Theatre (soon to be renamed the Tom Stoppard Theatre) in London's West End. Carrie Cracknell's production opened at the Old Vic in January this year and transferred to the West End in June. The production is presented in the round and we decided to get seats on the stage, which gave us a wonderful close-up view of the actors: most of the time it felt like we were watching a studio production. 'Arcadia' is a brilliant play. Set in a grand country house in Derbyshire in two different times (1809 and 1993) it shows modern academics researching the early 19th century events at the house, which we also see directly. This is a canvas for Stoppard to explore a range of ideas and themes, including mathematics, iterative algorithms, chaos theory, academic methods, the picturesque and landscape gardening. This preponderance of topics helps to avoid the script becoming too didactic, as the pomposity of certain characters is constantly pricked by interruptions and digressions by their peers. It's also a very funny play, with an extensive cast who are initially confined to the scenes set in their own timeline but then begin to cross over with their counterparts from another age. It's a great cast: Oliver Chris channels Bill Nighy as the Tiggerish academic Bernard Nightingale, for whom Nikki Amuka-Bird's Hannah Jarvis is more than a match, and Angus Cooper's Valentine Coverly is a gentle, sympathetic referee between them. Yolanda Kettle is commanding as Lady Croom and Seamus Dillane as the tutor Septimus Hodge is witty, knowing and charmingly disreputable. But Isis Hainsworth steals the show as the teenage mathematical product Thomasina Coverly - a proto-Ada Lovelace. It was particularly interesting to see 'Arcadia' so soon after reading Ian McEwan's novel 'What We Can Know' (reviewed here in August 2026) which has a very similar structure - with academics trying to unearth the details of the events of a previous century through the discovery of written sources - and slightly misinterpreting them. And both plots revolve around the works of a poet. But Stoppard is much funnier.

'What We Can Know' by Ian McEwan

10 August 2026

Ian McEwan's 2024 novel 'What We Can Know' is an impressive achievement. A historian in the year 2119 is researching the work of the early 21st century poet Francis Blundy and, in particular, his legendary missing poem from 2014, 'A Corona for Vivien'. To frame this scholarly literary detective story, McEwan has constructed a detailed history of the next 100 years, complete with climate disasters, nuclear war and more. But what he is really exploring is the unreliability of historical written sources, control of one's own narrative and the making of myths. It's an incredibly clever novel which I think I enjoyed all the more because I hadn't heard anything about it before reading and had no idea where it was going.

'Lady Oracle' by Margaret Atwood

5 August 2026

'Lady Oracle' is an early novel by Margaret Atwood, first published in 1976. I hadn't heard of the book when I started reading it and had no idea what to expect. I found the opening chapters, in which the narrator arrives at her holiday home in Italy, having apparently faked her own death, quite confusing, but once she started to tell the story of her childhood in Toronto the novel grabbed my attention. With hindsight it was fun coming to this tale without any prior knowledge of it, so I won't give much away here. I enjoyed the book but I still feel a bit unsure what I thought of it. On the face of it, it's quite a miserable story - but it is told with a comic flair and boasts a cast of brilliantly eccentric characters (who all seem to have the habit of reappearing just when you had forgotten them!). 'Lady Oracle' does have the feel of an early work, perhaps throwing too many ideas into the mix. But it is clearly written by a skillful author - and the fact that the first person narrator is also a novelist makes it hard to know how much of her account of her life we should believe. An intriguing and entertaining read.

WOMAD 2026

29 July 2026

When the WOMAD Festival moved to Charlton Park in Wiltshire in 2007 (reviewed here in August 2007) that first festival at the new site was beset by problems, exacerbated by the constant rain that created a sea of mud. Last weekend's first post-Charlton Park WOMAD, at the festival's new home of Neston Park near Corsham in Wiltshire, seemed to have learned much from the 2007 experience - and also benefited from near perfect weather. For the first outing at this new venue (after a fallow year with no festival in 2025), everything seemed to go extremely smoothly. Neston Park feels smaller than Charlton Park (the WOMAD programme described it as "more intimate") but the numbers attending seemed to fit the space well. I soon got the hang of the new layout of the festival arena (though it took me until Saturday afternoon to realise that the beautiful path through the sunflower field provided a handy shortcut between the two halves of the arena). I'm not sure they had got the positioning of all the stages quite right but I expect the necessary tweaks will be in place by next year's festival. And, for me, 2026 was, musically, the best WOMAD for quite a while. I saw 23 performances over the three days, including 15 full sets, and there were many many highlights. It was great to see WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel on stage on Saturday afternoon to pay tribute to the WOMAD Festival Director Chris Smith who is retiring after 20 years in charge. Later in the day I found myself standing immediately behind Peter Gabriel in the crowd in the Sunflower Tent, watching the band LYR, featuring the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. I really enjoyed Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek and their 1970s psychedelic version of traditional Anatolian folk music. I was charmed by the intergenerational group representing the Lăutăresele Şaraimanic project that celebrates music from the variety of different ethnic communities in Romania. While these performances of Anatolian and Romanian folk music presented the traditional in an innovative modern way, the Mexican brass band Mixanteña de Santa Cecilia performed music from the Pacific coast of Mexico in a way that appeared to be completely historically authentic, with traditional costumes and dancers, but was no less thrilling. Bénin International Musical's "incendiary voodoo sound of West Africa" was engaging and varied. And I loved the Brooklyn disco funk of Say She She. Amidst these big danceable shows on the main stage, I'm pleased I also found the time to see Pakistani musician Ustad Noor Bakhsh on the smaller Village Stage. He plays the benju - a zither with typewriter-style keys, played like a lap-steel guitar - and he only found international recognition when already in his late seventies. His hypnotic fast-picking tunes found an enthusiastic audience at WOMAD and provided a beautiful opportunity for contemplation. But my favourite moments of the 2026 WOMAD Festival were the polyphonic vocals of the Occitan group Barrut from Southern France and the high energy singing and dancing of Galician female folk trio Tanxugueiras from Northern Spain. In both cases I found myself thrilled to have chosen to be at those stages at that time and thinking I will remember these performances for many years.

'When the Wind Blows' by Cyril Hare

28 July 2026

Gareth Coles and I have enjoyed a long-running debate about the rules of detective fiction over many years. I have written here several times (initially in May 2014) about my own first two rules: 1. The reader should not know any more than the detective and 2. The detective should work out 'who done it' from the clues they unearth, rather than being handed the solution on a plate by a turn of events. I'm very grateful to Gareth for giving me a copy of 'When the Wind Blows' by Cyril Hare - a detective novel that could have been designed specifically with new in mind. A murder mystery very much in the style of the golden age of detective fiction (though published a little later, in 1949), it not only follows my rules but revolves around a symphony concert by a local amateur orchestra. Cyril Hare was the pen name of the judge Gordon Clark. He was a prolific writer of detective stories and 'When the Wind Blows' demonstrates his legal knowledge. Though it deals with a brutal murder, the book has a gentle comic tone that reminded me of 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K Jerome. It unintentionally reveals much about the social norms of they period, some aspects of which feel quite uncomfortably dated now. But, although it is set more than 75 years ago, I can confirm that the description of an amateur orchestra committee meeting remains hilariously accurate! 

'Whistler' by Ann Patchett

26 July 2026

From the knowledge I cleaned from 'These Precious Days', Ann Patchett's book of essays (reviewed here in June 2026), on starting to read her new novel, 'Whistler' (as an unabridged audio book, narrated by the author), I quickly realised that this was going to be a particularly autobiographical novel. Daphne, through whose eyes we discover this story, has three fathers (her biological father followed by two stepfathers) - as does Ann Patchett herself. There are several other links between the character and her author. And 'Whistler', like the essays in 'These Precious Days' focuses on themes of mortality, family relationships, storytelling and the writing process. It's a confident, mature novel that is beautifully constructed. Several times, something is referred to that hasn't yet been explained and I found myself flicking back to see if I had missed something. But soon you realise you can trust Ann Patchett: everything will be explained in time. You are in safe hands and the way stories are told is part of the story she is telling. 'Whistler' is a deceptively simple family tale - beautiful, sad, moving and funny.

'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' by Christopher Hampton

23 July 2026

Christopher Hampton's play 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses', based on the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1985 with a cast including Alan Rickman, Lindsay Duncan, Juliet Stevenson and Fiona Shaw. In that production the part of the naïve teenager Cécile de Volanges was played by Lesley Manville. 41 years later, Lesley Manville takes the lead as the Marquise de Merteuil in Marianne Elliott's new production of the play for the National Theatre, which we saw in a NT Live screening at the Rufus Centre in Flitwick on Wednesday. Lesley Manville is wonderful, as is her partner in crime Aidan Turner as the Vicomte de Valmont who plays his part with a lupine glee - like the wolf in Red Riding Hood. Marianne Elliott's production is on a grand scale, with an extensive cast, wonderfully choreographed by Tom Jackson Greaves. But I think the play worked better on the intimate stage of the Donmar Warehouse in Josie Rourke's 2016 production (reviewed here in January 2016). Christopher Hampton's script is delicious, with its Oscar Wilde-like reversal of conventional morals, but the seduction scenes now feel very uncomfortable, the perpetrators' eventual comeuppance never excusing the damage done to their victims. 

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Prom

22 July 2026

On Tuesday we were at the Royal Albert Hall in London for our first visit to the BBC Proms in many years. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Storgårds, were in impressive form. The programme opened with 'Tales of a Summer Sea' - a piece by Betsy Jolas, who is due to celebrate her 100th birthday this year. This was a belated UK premiere for her 1977 reworking of elements of the incidental music she wrote in 1962 for a production of 'The Tempest'. It's an atmospheric piece that conjures up the power of the ocean through a large orchestra including masses of percussion and two sets of timpani. We then heard Sueye Park perform the Sibelius 'Violin Concerto' - one of my favourite pieces and one I have played in the orchestra for on several occasions. Sueye Park played beautifully and delicately but the acoustics of the vast Albert Hall made it quite a strain to hear the solo violin. John Storgårds restrained the orchestra volume very effectively but I would have preferred to hear both soloist and accompaniment a little more off the leash. The second half of the concert featured 'Also sprach Zarathustra' - Richard Strauss's orchestral tone poem inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's huge poem. The opening fanfare must be one of the most famous moments in classical music, from its use in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey', but the 35 minutes that follow are rarely heard. Which is a shame as it is a great piece - powerful, playful, spectacular and serene. Though I know the work from recordings, I had never heard it live before and it was really helpful to see it performed in order to make sense of the different sections of the music and the instrumentation. It was wonderful to hear the mighty Albert Hall organ. The tubular bells chiming midnight, heralding the quiet, enigmatic ending of the piece, rang out brilliantly from the balcony at the top of the Albert Hall. It was a very entertaining concert, excellently performed.

London Athletics Meet 2026

22 July 2026

On Saturday we made our annual visit to the London Stadium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the Diamond League London Athletics Meet. I was looking forward to our first opportunity to see the remarkable world record-holder poll vaulter Armand Duplantis, but sadly he had to withdraw from the competition part-way through with an injury - though  he still managed to come in second place. We also saw Keely Hodgkinson beating Femke Broeders-Bol in an exciting 800m. But the highlight of a brilliant sunny afternoon of athletics was seeing Josh Kerr break the world record for the mile - a record that had stood for 27 years. His final lap was a thrilling race against the clock with the whole sold-out crowd of 60,000 on its feet cheering him on.

Buckingham Music Festival

16 July 2026

On Wednesday, we made a first visit to the Buckingham Music Festival at the Radcliffe Centre, a lovely converted church concert venue in the middle of Buckingham (where we previously saw the Adderbury Ensemble, reviewed here in October 2024). In the morning we saw a piano recital by Craig Greene which featured three early sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 3 was composed in 1775 during his early years visiting Munich. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1 was composed in 1795 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn. And Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 1 was his Opus 1, composed in 1853 when he was just 20. It was fascinating to hear the contrast in these early works by the three composers, brilliantly played by Craig Greene, and to hear the development in the use of the piano over a relatively short period of time from the 1770s to the 1850s. The hall was packed for this morning recital. After lunch, we returned to the Radcliffe Centre for a performance by Oxus, a string quartet from Oxford, who presented a programme 'From the Steppes of Central Asia', inspired by the peoples and vast landscapes of the Caucasus and beyond. This featured movements from string quartets by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Borodin, which drew on local folk music across Russia and Ukraine. They also played arrangements of traditional pieces, including a Ukrainian folk song, music collected in Kazakhstan, an Armenian traditional tune, and finishing with a medley from 'Fiddler on the Roof'. It was a very entertaining and varied programme, nicely introduced by the members of the quartet. A very pleasant way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

14 July 2026

Our traditional, season-ending, short, Sunday afternoon Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert for the Friends of the Orchestra, is always a lovely way to mark the start of the summer. It's also a great opportunity for the orchestra to play repertoire that wouldn't fit into one of our normal concerts. It's a chance for us, and our audience, to explore shorter pieces for a smaller orchestra. At this year's Friends' concert at Christchurch in Northampton on Sunday we played Schubert's 'Symphony No. 8' (the 'Unfinished Symphony'). I hadn't played this popular work for many years and had forgotten what a lovely piece it is. There is something very satisfying about playing a classical symphony that is so cleverly constructed and beautifully written but less technically challenging than some of the repertoire we usually play, providing the opportunity to play much more carefully and precisely. I would agree with our percussionist, Keith Crompton, who said to me after the concert that he thought the Schubert was the best the orchestra had played for a long time. Conductor John Gibbons drew a lovely, rich sound from the orchestra and kept the rhythms clear and steady. We continued our tradition of featuring the latest Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust soloists competition winners. Amy played the final section of the Glazunov 'Saxophone Concerto' very impressively. And Stan gave a stunning performance of the last two movements of the lovely 'Concertino for Trombone' by Ferdinand David. When Felix Mendelssohn was asked to compose a trombone concerto he declined due to time restraints but passed the task to the leader of his Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David. The resulting Concertino was dedicated to the Gewandhaus trombonist Karl Traugott Queisser, who first performed it, with Mendelssohn conducting, in 1837. We also played the catchy 'Folk Song Suite' by Vaughan Williams and we finished the concert with the Rossini overture ‘The Thieving Magpie’ which featured excellent solos by Harriet Brown (oboe), Helen Taylor (flute), Rob Reid (clarinet), Sian Bunker (bassoon) and Ian Jones (horn). 

'Four Last Songs' by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon

14 July 2026

I have written here several times (particularly in November 2010 and November 2024) about my long personal connection to the 'Four Last Songs' by Richard Strauss. I am grateful to Lindsey Jackson for remembering this and giving me a copy of Linda and Michael Hutcheon's 2015 book 'Four Last Songs' which explores aging and creativity by looking at the late works of four composers: Verdi, Strauss, Messiaen and Britten. The Hutcheons are academics at the University of Toronto (a literary theorist and a physician). As they both entered their sixties they became increasingly interested in continuing creativity in older age, and their book felt a very timely read for me as I started my retirement. By examining the later lives of the four composers, they look at whether their last compositions try to sum up their lives and their achievements or to point forward through an unexpected change in style. Verdi, famous for his very successful tragic operas, deliberately chose to end his career by writing a comic opera, 'Falstaff', to send a message to other Italian composers warning against the increasing 'Germanism' of Italian opera. The late works of Richard Strauss, including the 'Four Last Songs', seem to reject his previous exploration of modernism and revert to 'being Strauss'. Messiaen decided to spend his last years writing his first opera - the incredibly ambitious 'Saint Francois d'Assise'. Britten's last opera 'Death in Venice' deals specifically with aging, creativity and death. The Hutcheons' short book is fascinating - fairly academic in tone but with plenty of background about the context of the composers' later years - and made me want to listen more attentively to their (and other composers') late works.   

'The Barbecue at No. 9' by Jennie Godfrey

9 July 2026

Having enjoyed Jennie Godfrey's debut novel 'The List of Suspicious Things', in which a young girl in West Yorkshire in the 1970s attempts to identify the Yorkshire Ripper (reviewed here in July 2025), I was intrigued to learn that her new book is set in 1985 on the day of the Live Aid concert - a period that could have been my Mastermind specialist subject. 'The Barbecue at No. 9', which I read as an unabridged audio book (narrated by Gemma Whelan, Josh Dylan, Raffey Cassidy and Stephen Mangan) uses Live Aid as a backdrop and timeline for a gathering of neighbours. The Gordon family have invited all the other inhabitants of Delmont Close - many of whom have never previously met - to a barbecue in their garden to celebrate the occasion of the charity concert. At first I found it difficult to take in the substantial cast of characters (particularly listening to the audio book where it is difficult to skip back to check the names and house numbers). But soon I realised that the four narrators represented the four principal characters whose stories were going to be explored in depth. As with 'The List of Suspicious Things', Jennie Godfrey's writing reminded me of the novels of Joanna Cannon (including ‘The Trouble with Goats and Sheep’, set in the long hot summer of 1976, reviewed here in January 2022). The alternating stories of multiple, otherwise unconnected, individuals united in a moment also reminded me of Liane Moriarty's novel 'Here One Moment' (reviewed here in January 2025). You can tell there are going to be some twists and revelations but it took me a while to work them out. 'The Barbecue at No. 9' is enjoyable, entertaining and satisfying and I'm pleased to report that the Live Aid references were obviously well-researched.

Wimbledon 2026

4 July 2026

We had a lovely day at Wimbledon yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, but not too hot, with temperatures going up to 25 degrees and an occasional gentle breeze. We had tickets for Court 3 where we saw three entertaining third round singles matches. We watched the No 11 seed Belinda Bencic play Anna Kalinskaya, seeded 19 (who we saw playing doubles with Sorana Cirstea at Wimbledon last year, reviewed here in July 2025). This was an enthralling three set match with both players making plenty of mistakes. But Bencic always looked the better player and ended up pulling through. 

We then watched one of the most bizarre tennis matches we've seen at Wimbledon. Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany beat the No 8 seed, Daniil Medvedev, in straight sets, despite Medvedev leading 4-1 in the second and 5-2 in the third. Medvedev seemed to lose the match by getting increasingly frustrated, going through a phase of exaggerated gestures, followed by a period of sarcastic mutterings as he struggled to beat the huge, Struff serve. But he continued to play brilliantly on occasion, and just when we thought Struff would pull ahead in the face of Medvedev's dips, Struff's first serve appeared to desert him with both players struggling to close out the third set. Arguably the match was won on one amazing moment: Medvedev appeared to have played a brilliant winner with the ball legitimately going around the side of the net and back into court. But Struff asked for a video replay and, after several minutes delay, the replay on the big screen clearly showed that the ball had gone past the other side of the net post, through a gap in the net and out the other side, giving the point to Struff. 

Finally, we watched Karolina Muchava, the No 10 seed, playing Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand, the world number 164 who was appearing in her first Wimbledon, having only played one Grand Slam before this, the 2026 Australian Open where she went out in the first round. She had got through to the third round at Wimbledon having beaten Maja Chwalinska, the recent French Open finalist, on the way. At first, we feared this match might be incredibly one-sided, as Muchova took an early lead. But Sawangkaew showed no fear and played very impressively, pushing the second set to a tiebreak before departing to huge cheers.

Suntou Susso and the Gambian Superstars

2 July 2026

Last Friday we were at The Stables in Wavendon to see Suntou Susso and the Gambian Superstars. Suntou Susso is a Gambian griot in the tradition of the hereditary musicians whose songs chronicled history and tradition across the Mandé Empire of West Africa (like the late great Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, reviewed here in May 2008). Suntou Susso is a singer, songwriter and kora player with a very likable personality. He had the audience up dancing, almost from the start, on one of the hottest days of the year. He was backed by a very impressive six piece band of brilliant musicians, playing a mixture of traditional and contemporary instruments, who are clearly having lots of fun. It was mostly fast and frantic dance music: one tune with a slightly slower reggae beat provided a nice contrast. I also particularly enjoyed the couple of more contemplative solo pieces with Suntou Susso accompanying himself on kora. It was a very enjoyable evening that left the audience and the band smiling.

'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan

26 June 2026

I'm grateful to Gavin Stride for giving me a copy of 'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan. This very short novel (just over 100 pages long) was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. Set in New Ross, a small town in County Wexford in Ireland, in 1985, it tackles the appalling history of the Magdalen laundries. Now infamous as a shameful period in the history of Ireland and the Catholic Church, in 1985 the practice of incarcerating unmarried mothers and separating them from their babies was still largely unknown. (Ireland's last Magdalen laundry wasn't closed down until 1996). Claire Keegan tackles this difficult subject through the eyes of one man who starts to become aware of what has been happening under his nose. Her writing is sparse and poetic with every word carefully chosen. The opening paragraphs, which conjure up the town and its inhabitants, made me think of 'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas. This is also clearly Colm Tóibín territory: New Ross is just 20 miles from Tóibín's Enniscorthy and the careful period description of an Irish small town reminded me a lot of  'Long Island' by Colm Tóibín (reviewed here in July 2025). Keegan brilliantly gives you a perfect understanding of the relationship between two characters through the briefest exchange of dialogue, particularly (like Colm Tóibín) by what is not said. I also loved the quiet, understated symbolism of a new pair of shoes. 'Small Things Like These' is an almost Dickensian Christmas short story which never becomes whimsical or twee. It's a beautiful miniature that explores a dark subject with gentleness and hope.

'These Precious Days' by Ann Patchett

24 June 2026

I'm very grateful to fellow Ann Patchett fan Jess Plant for giving me a copy of 'These Precious Days' - Patchett's 2021 collection of non-fiction essays. I discovered Ann Patchett somewhat belatedly in 2023, reading her brilliant 2001 novel ‘Bel Canto’ (reviewed here in December 2023). Since then I have read and enjoyed her five subsequent novels (reviewed here, January 2024 - June 2025). 'These Precious Days' is an engaging and enjoyable collection of pieces on a variety of topics which gives you a rounded picture of the author, her personality, childhood, career, family and friends. Some of her pieces reminded me in their structure and tone of the comic essays of David Sedaris (reviewed here in June 2015). There are some very moving essays in 'These Precious Days' and Ann Patchett is particularly thought-provoking on the difficult topic of mortality. She is also very interesting on the business of being a writer and on her writing process. When I wrote here about her 2007 novel 'Run' (reviewed here in June 2024) I noted that Ann Patchett reminded me of the great contemporary American novelist Anne Tyler. So it was satisfying to discover, in the essay 'Cover Stories', that the publisher of Patchett's first novel hired the artist who had painted the cover illustration for Tyler's 'Breathing Lessons' in the hope of attracting Anne Tyler fans. Thirty years later Patchett says people still tell her that her novels remind them of Tyler's. Reading Ann Patchett's essays certainly makes you want to visit her book shop, Parnassus Books in Nashville. And I'm now really looking forward to reading her recently published tenth novel 'Whistler'.

Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert

23 June 2026

I've been a member of Northampton Symphony Orchestra for 26 years but last Saturday was the first time I can remember us dedicating a whole concert to a single piece of music. Any Gustav Mahler Symphony is a significant undertaking for an orchestra, but Mahler's 'Symphony No 3', which we played at St Matthew's in Northampton, brings some particular challenges. As well as being the longest of his symphonies, its six movements lasting around 95 to 110 minutes, it requires a massive orchestra, a mezzo-soprano soloist, a ladies choir and a children's choir. It was an amazing experience being one of 160 performers on Saturday (including an orchestra of more than 100 players).

NSO rehearsing Mahler 'Symphony No 3' in St Matthew's

I wasn't familiar with the 3rd symphony until we started to rehearse it and I found it quite difficult to appreciate at first. While there were clearly some beautiful, brilliant (and many seemingly impossible) passages, playing through one or two of the movements at a time they felt as if they came from completely different pieces. But as I got to know the symphony better I began to spot the use of common thematic material across the very different feeling movements and the work as a whole began to make more sense to me. Again I was reminded that there is no better way to understand and appreciate complex music than by playing it.

Flugelhorn solo from the balcony

Although there are plenty of tricky passages for the first horn player, Mahler 3 doesn't feature the substantial horn solos that terrified me when we played Mahler 6 in 2011 (reviewed here in November 2011). In the third symphony, while challenging solos throughout the orchestra were impressively conquered by NSO players, the limelight belongs to three instruments that have lengthy, exposed solos. John Whittall gave a fantastic performance of the commanding operatic trombone solo in the first movement. And Dan Newitt's beautiful Flugelhorn solo in the third movement, played from high up in the balcony at the back of the church, was stunning. But I would also like to praise the incredibly delicate, quiet bass drum solos that punctuate several sections of the symphony, played carefully and precisely by Henry Taylor.

Mezzo-soprano Rachel Roper was wonderful in the fourth and fifth movements. And the children's choir from the Malcolm Arnold Academy and ladies' chorus from the Northampton Bach Choir, directed by Simon Toyne, added a magical feel to the fifth movement.

NSO conductor John Gibbons deserves huge congratulations for pulling this enormous piece together and guiding us through a very impressive performance - and for conducting the whole symphony with one hand, with his left arm in a sling following a recent accident.

I suspect any performance of Mahler's 'Symphony No 3' feels like a significant event. It was amazing to be in the room to hear it live, let alone to play a part in the performance, and it was wonderful to be part of a brilliant horn section of nine players. I think our realisation of this massive undertaking was a triumph and I really enjoyed it.

NSO Horns

Afterwards, one member of our audience told us she was overwhelmed, saying "It's my absolute favourite piece of music and I never thought I would hear it live." This is an important reminder of the role amateur orchestras play in sharing lesser performed music with local audiences. While our performance of Mahler's 'Symphony No 3' definitely included a few minor mistakes (from me at least), it was much more exciting to hear it live than to listen to a recording.

'Ghost Writer' by David Tristram

15 June 2026

David Tristram is one of the UK's most popular and performed comedy playwrights. On average, one of his 29 published comedies is being performed somewhere in the world every single day. Like Alan Ayckbourn he writes plays that are well suited to amateur productions, usually requiring a single simple set. We first discovered David Tristram at one of our first visits to TADS, our local amateur theatre group in Toddington, in 2009 when we saw the gloriously silly murder mystery 'Inspector Drake and the Black Widow' (reviewed here in April 2009). On Saturday we were back at TADS for their latest David Tristram production, 'Ghost Writer' - a haunting comedy thriller. Like a contemporary version of Noel Coward's 'Blithe Spirit', playwright Edward (Rory White) is visited by the ghost of his dead wife Ruby (Jude Stacy) who tells him they need to find out which of the other actors in their company murdered her. Ruby persuades Edward to use Hamlet's 'play within the play' technique to try to reveal the guilty party. David Sachon's production brilliantly handles the required comic timing and crosstalk scenes (where only Edward can see or hear Ruby's ghost and everyone else assumes his comments to her are meant for them). The cast of six are all very impressive, with Andrew Naish's bright orange wig almost stealing the show. And the references to, and quotes from, 'Hamlet' are cleverly used. A very entertaining and enjoyable farce, excellently performed.

'Birnam Wood' by Eleanor Catton

15 June 2026

During my time as a charity chief executive, I remember a very interesting debate with my board of trustees when we were trying to establish formal guidelines for who the organisation would accept funding from. Charity trustees have a duty to focus on what is in the best interests of the charity, regardless of their own personal values and ethics. We concluded that decisions about the appropriateness of potential sponsors and donors should therefore be based only on the publicly stated purpose and values of the organisation and on whether acceptance of funding would be detrimental to the achievement of the organisation's purpose. I was reminded of this debate by Eleanor Catton's novel 'Birnam Wood', which tells the story of a small guerrilla gardening collective in New Zealand that is suddenly offered a huge donation by an American tech billionaire. The members of Birnam Wood are faced with the dilemma of weighing their distrust of the donor, his motives and what he stands for against the good they could do for their cause with his money. The novel starts as an intriguing moral and political argument but morphs into an increasingly tense thriller. The reference to 'Macbeth' in the title is clearly not accidental and, while Catton's novel doesn't mirror the plot of the play exactly, it definitely has the feel of a Shakespearean tragedy. Eleanor Catton won the Booker Prize for her previous novel 'The Luminaries' (reviewed here in December 2013). 'Birnam Wood' is a very different book but equally impressive. The third person narrative voice switches perspectives between the main characters, showing us slightly different understandings of the same events. Cleverly, only we can see that all the protagonists have misunderstood at least one aspect of what is going on. 'Birnam Wood' is a brilliantly written, gripping, intricately-plotted tale, punctuated by three shocking moments that completely took me by surprise.

Switzerland

8 June 2026

We had a wonderful holiday in Switzerland to celebrate the start of my retirement. We started in Basel in the north of the country, next to the borders with France and Germany, where our first challenge was to leave the airport through the Switzerland exit rather than end up in the wrong country! Basel is a lovely small city, with a pretty old town on either side of the impressive Rhine river. We visited the Fondation Beyeler art gallery - a stunning Renzo Piano building set in a beautiful garden with views of the nearby hills - to see an exhibition of Paul Cezanne paintings. We also attended an orchestral concert at the Stadtcasino concert hall which featured four concertos played by students from the Basel Academy of Music, accompanied by the Basel Symphony Orchestra. After Basel we travelled by train to Wengen in the Jungfrau region - a car-free village halfway up a mountain, only accessible via a cogwheel train. Our self-catering chalet was just outside Wengen and the view from our balcony was beautiful, looking down the Lauterbrunnen valley and across the three mountains - Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger. As we sat on the balcony in the late afternoon we heard the increasing sound of cowbells and watched the cows being walked downhill for milking right past our cottage. We had a wonderful week in the mountains, catching the cable cars and mountain railways, walking, taking a cruise on Lake Brienz and soaking up the amazing views. From Wengen we moved on to Bern - the capital of Switzerland - which has a very pretty old city contained within a loop of the river Aare. It reminded us of Edinburgh's old town, with its cobbled streets and tall, thin, many storied buildings - but with added porticos (like we saw in Bologna). We visited the Einsteinhaus museum - in the apartment in which Einstein had once lived - and the Zentrum Paul Klee - another stunning modern building, by Renzo Piano, which holds 4,000 works by Paul Klee and displays a small selection on rotation. Finally we had a couple of days in Geneva where we travelled across the edge of Lake Geneva on the Mouette water buses, giving us beautiful views of the water and showing us how quickly you can get out of the city into lovely countryside. You can see a selection of my photos from Switzerland at: https://culturaloutlook.blogspot.com/search/label/Switzerland2026

'A Schooling in Murder' by Andrew Taylor

31 May 2026

Having enjoyed my first Andrew Taylor novel 'The Scent of Death' (reviewed here in May 2026) I moved on to 'A Schooling in Murder' - his 2025 novel set in 1945 at the end of the War (between VE Day and VJ Day) at a girls' boarding school in the countryside near Gloucester. This book has a very different feel to 'The Scent of Death': it is more of a cosy country house murder mystery, in the style of (and constantly referencing) Agatha Christie (with nods to Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham). It's also a ghost story (with the feel of Noel Coward's 'Blithe Spirit') as the tale is narrated by Annabel Warnock - a teacher at the school who is determined to find out who has just murdered her. There is more than one mystery here, with various suspicious goings-on involving pupils, teachers, servants and others. And there are many potential suspects for Annabel's murder. But this is quite a light-hearted murder story, which reminded me of Joanna Cannon's novels ‘The Trouble with Goats and Sheep’ (reviewed here in January 2022) and 'Three Things About Elsie (reviewed here in November 2023). A very enjoyable set of puzzles - being simultaneously investigated by the ghostly narrator, teachers and pupils - with a very clever denouement.

'This is What Happened' by Mick Herron

25 May 2026

Having read all the Slough House spy novels by Mick Herron (the latest 'Clown Town' reviewed here in October 2025), I was intrigued to read an earlier Mick Herron novel 'This is What Happened' (published 2018). This is a slight but clever puzzle of a novel. I really enjoyed trying to work out where it was going so I don't want to say too much about the plot. But be warned that this is a fairly creepy story about coercive control. The narrative structure shows us events through the eyes of each of the main protagonists, one after the other. So we gradually start to understand things the characters themselves don't. Mick Herron drops in perfectly placed clues, allowing the reader very satisfyingly to spot each of the twists just before they are revealed. 'This is What Happened' is a black comic thriller with a macabre feel.

'The Scent of Death' by Andrew Taylor

22 May 2026

Andrew Taylor is an incredibly prolific contemporary writer of historical fiction. I have really enjoyed reading my first Andrew Taylor novel, 'The Scent of Death' - a thriller (published in 2014) set in New York in 1778 during the American War of Independence. It was interesting to contrast this New York with the 1746 version described by Francis Spufford in his brilliant novel 'Golden Hill' (reviewed here in August 2017). By the 1770s New York is a stronghold of the British army, backed by American loyalists who are supporting the crown against the revolutionary army led by George Washington. The story follows Edward Savill, a civil servant in the American Department who has been sent from London to assess the situation in New York. He is quickly distracted from the wider political and military scene by a series of odd events involving the family with whom he is lodging, and finds himself investigating assault and murder. Andrew Taylor writes in the style and sensibilities of the period: while Savill is kinder and more considerate to the servants than some of his colleagues, his attitudes towards slaves feels upsettingly uncomfortable to the modern reader. The plot begins slowly but gathers pace, becoming genuinely thrilling and shockingly violent. It's well written and obviously carefully researched, giving a fascinating portrait of this transitional period in American history, without ever feeling like a history lesson. I chose this Andrew Taylor novel to start with because it wasn't labelled as part of a multi-novel series, but having finished it I was delighted to discover that Edward Savill appears in another Taylor novel, which I am now looking forward to reading.

'The Kellerby Code' by Jonny Sweet

12 May 2026

Jonny Sweet is a comedian and actor who I knew from Tom Basden's brilliant Radio 4 sitcom 'Party' - about a group of naïve students who have decided to start their own political party. His debut novel 'The Kellerby Code' (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Jack Davenport) is a dark comic thriller which Sweet has described as 'Brideshead Revisited' meets 'The Talented Mr Ripley'. Edward Jevons is a lower-middle-class young man besotted with his upper-class university friends Robert and Stanza. His increasingly desperate attempts to ingratiate himself by being helpful seem to be casting him in the role of a servant rather than a friend. Through a series of small incremental steps Edward's journey becomes more macabre and his predicament more cringeworthy. While it might be unfair to expect a novel by a comedian to have to be funny, a novel by a comedian that specifically references 'The Code of the Woosters' by PG Wodehouse wasn't as funny as I was expecting. It's a thrilling ride but I didn't find Edward a sympathetic enough character. Jonny Sweet said he was aiming for a mixture of Wodehouse and the Coen Brothers. It's an interesting and very readable debut but the grand guignol needed a bit more light relief for me. 

'Driftwood' by Martina Laird

4 May 2026

On Saturday we were at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon to see 'Driftwood' - a new play by Martina Laird, directed by Justin Audibert, in a RSC production in association with Kiln Theatre. This is the debut play by Martina Laird - an actor who has previously appeared in a number of RSC productions in Stratford. We saw her playing an American political strategist in 'The New Real' by David Edgar, also at The Other Place, in 2024 (reviewed here in October 2024). 'Driftwood' is set in Trinidad and Tobago in 1956 as Eric Williams' People's National Movement is about to win the general election that will set the country on the path to self governance and then independence (which was achieved in 1962). The play focuses on a gentleman's club in Port of Spain, which is owned by an Englishman, managed by a local woman Pearl and her daughter Ruby, and is attracting the interest of a corrupt US Marine who wants to use the premises to store some form of contraband. The action takes place in one room of the club where the six characters interact with each other with the feel of a Tennessee Williams play. But the story of the club, its ownership, its future and the family who have been running it, is clearly an analogy for what is happening to Trinidad and Tobago. 'Driftwood' is enjoyable, emotional and unpredictable. Martina Laird's writing is strong, including a particularly clever multi-layered card game scene. But I think a little more reference within the play to the historical political setting might have helped us fully to appreciate the intended parallels. The acting is excellent, especially Cat White as Ruby and Martins Imhangbe as Diamond - the stranger whose arrival at the club opens the play. 

'There are Rivers in the Sky' by Elif Shafak

1 May 2026

I really enjoyed Elif Shafak's 2021 novel ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ (reviewed here in April 2023) - a beautifully written family saga through which she tells the history of the division of Cyprus. The British Turkish novelist's 2024 book 'There are Rivers in the Sky' is an even more ambitious combination of compelling narrative and a vast span of history, linked by a single drop of water that travels from the Assyrian court of King Ashurbanipal to Victorian London to modern day Iraq and contemporary London. In alternating chapters, Elif Shafak tells the stories of three characters in different historical periods who are linked by connections to 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' (the earliest recorded piece of literature), the Yazidis (history's most persecuted ethnic minority) and water. It's incredibly well researched, with some characters adapted from real historical figures. Narratively compelling, the three strands are obviously thematically linked but you gradually realise they are also going to have actual connections, which turn out to be quite surprising. 'There are Rivers in the Sky' deals with some grim topics, including genocide and sexual slavery, but it's a fascinating, impressive, epic tale. 

Andy Zaltzman

29 April 2026

I have been a fan of the comedian Andy Zaltzman since he started presenting 'The News Quiz' on BBC Radio 4 in 2020. Indeed, there was a period during the Covid lockdowns when I found the actual news so depressing that I avoided all bulletins, relying entirely on 'The News Quiz' to update me once a week. I then discovered Andy Zaltman's long-running topical comedy podcast 'The Bugle' ("the audio newspaper for a visual world") which quickly became essential weekly listening. On Tuesday we were at the Royal Theatre in Northampton to catch one of the last shows of Andy's current stand-up tour, 'The Zaltgeist'. It was great to see him in person for the first time. His apparently rambling - but actually meticulously constructed - show took us through current world events, cricket and reflections on Northamptonshire's gifts to the world. I particularly enjoyed his incredibly detailed snooker analogy for Keir Starmer's current struggles - all the funnier for being pedantically accurate to the laws of snooker. His mix of intellectual curiosity, absurdism and use of props and prepared texts reminded me of Simon Munnery (first reviewed here in July 2011).